Pipe tool

ABSTRACT

A pipe tool adapted for carrying in a pocket and provided with a knife blade or scraper blade for scraping a pipe bowl, a pick for cleaning a stem of the pipe and a tamping surface for tamping tobacco into a pipe bowl. The knife blade or scraper portion and the pick are integrally formed in a one-piece member which is removably mounted on a body member by having the pick and a base portion of the scraper member inserted in a passage of the body member which is provided on an opposite end with a cup member which forms a tamping surface. The tool further includes a pair of cap portions for completely enclosing the knife blade or scraper portion and the cup to prevent harm to a person carrying the tool and to prevent soiling of the person&#39;&#39;s clothes.

Patton Dec. 10, 1974 1 PIPE TOOL [76] Inventor: Edward Donald Patton, 611 E. 88th St., Chicago, 111. 60619 22 Filed: Mar. 27, 1974 211 App]. No.: 455,145

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 309,427, Nov. 24,

1972, Pat. N0. 3,814,109.

[52] U.S. Cl. 131/243, 131/247 [51] Int. Cl. A24f 09/08 [58] Field of Search 131/243, 245, 246, 247

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 865,547 9/1907 Walker 131/243 1,019,028 3/1912 Dodge.... 131/243 1,530,348 3/1925 Blom 131/243 X 2,256,848 9/1941 Pokorny 131/243 2,790,448 4/1957 Bock 131/243 3,234,916 2/1966 Fassbenderm. 131/243 X 3,327,717 6/1967 Grossman 131/243 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 205,633 10/1923 Great Britain 131/245 3/1934 Great Britain 131/243 11/1951 Germany 131/243 Primary Examiner-Joseph S. Reich Attorney, Agent, or Firm-l-lill, Gross, Simpson, Van Santen, Steadman, Chiara & Simpson 5 7] ABSTRACT A pipe tool adapted for carrying in a pocket and provided with a knife blade or scraper blade for scraping a pipe bowl, a pick for cleaning a stem of the pipe and a tamping surface for tamping tobacco into a pipe bowl. The knife blade or scraper portion and the pick are integrally formed in a one-piece member which is removably mounted on a body member by having the pick and a base portion of the scraper member inserted in a passage of the body member which is provided on an opposite end with a cup member which forms a tamping surface. The tool further includes a pair of cap portions for completely enclosing the knife blade or scraper portion and the cup to prevent harm to a person carrying the tool and to prevent soiling of the persons clothes.

10 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PIPE TOOL BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is directed to a pipe tool pro- I viding a scraper portion or knife blade, a pick, and a tamping surface which are enclosed in an outer case for carrying by a person when not in use.

2. Prior Art A person who smokes a pipe is continuously faced with a problem of packing tobacco into the bowlof the pipe and cleaning the pipe after it has been used. When the smoker can use his fingers to pack the tobacco in the pipe bowl, it is often desirable to tamp the burning tobacco in the bowl after removing part of the ash. While the ash may be removed by tamping the pipe, wet or soggy tobacco may accumulate at the bottom of the bowl or in the the stem and this accumulated tobacco is not easily removed by tapping the pipe. To both tarnp hot tobacco and remove accumulated tobacco from the stem and bottom of the bowl, many pipe smokers carry a pipe smoking accessory such as a pipe tool having a tamping surface, and means for digging the tobacco from the bowl.

Many different types of tools for use with the pipe have been suggested. For example, a knife provided in a special pocket of a tobacco pouch was disclosoed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,079,141 which issued to Zahodiakin on May 4, 1937, and a pick which was carried in a separate case is disclosed in British Pat. No. 205,633 (accepted Oct. 25, 1923).

In addition to providing asingle tool, several different tools having a combination of tools for performing different tasks have been suggested. An example is a combination of a tamper and a pick which was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,019,028 which issued to Dodge on Mar. 5, 1912. Other tool combinations which have various tools such as a knife blade, a pick, a scraping spool have been suggested and are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 865,547 which issued to Walker on Sept. 10, 1907; U.S. Pat. No. 1,5 30,348 which issued to Blom on Mar. 17, 1925; and British Pat. No. 406,943 (accepted Mar. 8, 1934).

One problem with the combination tools is that the surfaces such as the tamping surface or the knife or scraper blade are dirty due to ashes or are covered with thick gooey tobacco juice which accumulate in the bottom of the bowl of the pipe or in the stem. Thus, the combination tool of three different pipe tools requires a cleaning after use or without the cleaning it may possibly soil the clothes which is undesirable. To overcome these problems, it has been proposed to provide a case containing one, two or more tools to prevent soiling of clothes when carrying the tool when it is not in use. Examples of these proposed tools are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,256,,848 which issued to Pokomy on Sept. 23, 1941; U.S. Pat. No. 2,790,448 which issued to Bock on Apr. 30, 1957; U.S. Pat. No. 3,234,916 which issued, to Fassbender on Feb. 15, 1966; U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,717 which issued to Grossman on June 27, 1967;

and German Pat. No. 821,272 which issued on Nov. 15,

1951. In the devices illustrated in the patents, which issued to Pokomy and Bock, a case similar to a fountain pen case is provided with a tamping surface and has a pick or needle-like protrusion for cleaning the stems of pipes. In the device disclosed in the patent to Fassbender a combination tool having a flat tamping surface which is exposed and a knife is combined with a writing instrument such as a ball point pen. In the device illustrated in Grossman, a case having a retractable knife, retractable tamper and retractable pick is disclosed. In the German patent, a tool having a plurality of tools such as a tamper, a pick and a spoon are rotatably mounted in a body and received in an outer case. One problem with a combination tool in which all of the tools are received in the case, such as the tool disclosed in the German application is the high manufacturing cost for producing the tool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a pipe tool which has a one-piece member having a scraper portion provided on one end thereof and an integral elongated pick extending from a base portion of the scraper portion, a body member having a length substantially equal to the length of the elongated pick having a first end portion with a first end surface, a second end portion with a second end surface and having means forming a tamping surface and a passage extending in the body member from the first end surface towards the second end surface, a first removable hollow cap member telescopically received on the first end portion and a second removable hollow cap member telescopically received on the second end portion of the body member to cover the tamping surface. The one-piece member is removably mounted on the body member with the scraper portion extending from the first end surface and the pick and base portion received in the passage so that the first removable hollow cap covers the scraper portion and the body portion forms a grip while using the scraper portion. When the one-piece member is removed from the body portion, a pick is provided for use in cleaning the pipe bowl and stem. Preferably, the passage has a cross section corresponding to the cross section of the pick with a portion intermediate adjacent the first end portion corresponding to the cross section of the base portion so that the one-piece member is snuggly engaged in the body portion. The one-piece member preferably has the pick portion and base portion of the scraper member interconnected by a converging or gradually reduced portion. The means forming the tamping surface is preferably a metal cup member telescopically received on the second end portion to cover the second end portion.

Accordingly, it is an objectof the present invention to provide a new and useful pipe tool which .has a scraper portion, pick and tamping surface and which prevents soiling and damage to a smoker's clothes when the tool is carried therein.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a pipe tool providing a tamping surface, a pick and a scraper portion or knife blade contained in a protective outer casing at a reduced manufacturing cost.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the drawings and the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 with portionsin elevation for purposes of illustration; I 7

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe tool according to FIG. 1 with portions in elevation for purposes of illustration with one of the cap members removed;

FIG. 5 is a view with a portion broken away for purposes of illustration of the pipe tool with the other cap member removed;

FIG. 6 is a cross section taken along lines VIVI in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the one-piece pick and scraper blade of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a cross section taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS taper from the line 13 to a narrow end as illustrated in- FIGS. 1 and 2. To enable carrying the tool 10 in an upright position in a pocket, the first cap 11 is provided with a clip 14.

As best illustrated in FIG. 7, the tool 10 includes a one-piece member 15 which has a scraper portion or knife blade portion 16 formed on one end and has a pick 17 extending from a base portion 18 of the knife blade or scraper 16. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the scraper portion 16 has a substantially rectangular cross section which terminates in a knife edge 19. The edge 19 may be formed either by grinding or by coining the member 15 between dies to give the tapered configuration.

The pick 17 has a substantially rectangular cross section which may be constant along the majority of the length thereof or gradually tapering to a wider portion adjacent the base portion 18 of the scraper portion 16. As illustrated, the one-piece member 15 adjacent the base portion 18 tapers to the pick portion 17 to provide smooth continuous edges between the base portion 18 and pick 17.

The tool 10 includes a body portion 20 which has a first end portion 21 with first end surface 22 and a second end portion 23 with a second end surface 24 and the second end portion has means forming a tamping surface. While the tamping surface may be the end surface 24, the tamping surface is preferably a base 25 of a metal cup member 26 which has a cylindrical portion telescopically received on a cylindrical portion 27 of the second end surface 24. The cylindrical portion 27 v and a remaining portion of a second end surface 23 form a shoulder 28 which is approximately the thickness of the walls of the cup member 27 so that the cup member is spaced from the walls of a cap member 12.

The remaining portion of the second end portion 23 and the first end portion 21 each have a cross-section configuration with four sides which approach a square cross section. Each of the sides is slightly curved with the amount of curvature corresponding to the curvature of the walls forming the cap members such as 11 and 12 as illustrated in FIG. 6. The end portion 21 and its cap 11 along with the remaining portion of the second end portion 23 and the cap 12 may have coacting recesses and projections which form a snap lock. As illustrated, recesses 30 are formed in the first end portion 21 and the remaining portion of second end portion 23 and the caps are provided with projections 31. Preferably, these recesses are elongated or have a rectangular profile and the projections also are provided with a rectangular profile. If desired, the recesses 30 can be a circumferential groove extending around each of the portions such as the first end portion 21.

The body member 20 has a lengthwhich is substantially equal to the length of the pick 17 and has a passage 34 (FIG. 3) which extends inwardly from the end surface 22 toward the end surface 24 and as illustrated communicates between the two end surfaces. The onepiece member 15 is mounted in the body member 20 with the pick 17 received in the passage so that the knife portion 16 extends outwardly from the first end surface 22. Preferably, the passage 34 has a cross section conforming to the pick 17 with the passage adjacent the first end surface 22 having a cross section conforming to the base portion 18 of the one-piece member 15. By providing the passage 34 with a substantially rectangular cross section, which closely conforms with the cross section of the pick and base portion, the passage snuggly receives the pick and base portion to hold the one-piece member 15 substantially rigid in the body member 20 which provides a grip while using the scraper blade or portion 16 to clean a pipe bowl.

To utilize the pick, the one-piece member 15 is removed from the passage 34 and the blade or scraper portion 16 is utilized as a gripping surface or handle while utilizing the pick 17 to clean a pipe bowl or stem of a pipe. As mentioned above, the scraper 16 can have one edge tapered as illustrated in FIG. 8; however, it is contemplated that both edges may be maintained as flat edges with thecomer such as 37 (FIG. 8) being utilized as a scraping edge. In other words, the portion 16 may either have a rectangular cross section or have a tapered edge 19.

Since it is found desirable that the tool when carried in a persons pocket remains upright with the tamping surface and its respective cap member 12 in the down position, the cap 12 is provided with means such as a thick end portion 38 to prevent interchanging the cap 12 with the cap 11.

It is contemplated that the caps 11 and 12 along with the body member 20 will be formed of a plastic material while the cup member 26 and the one-piece member 18 along with the clip 14 are formed of metal. In orderv to prevent scorching or damage to the second end portion 23, and particularly due to heat being transferred through the metal cup member 26, the shoulder 28 is positioned so that the base 25 of the cup member 26 is spaced from the second end surface 24 as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Although various minor modifications may be suggested by those versed in the art, it should be understood that I wish to employ within the scope of the patent granted hereon, all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.

1 claim:

1. A pipe tool comprising: a one-piece member having a scraper portion having a base portion provided on one end thereof and an integral elontated pick extending from the base portion; a body member having a length substantially equal to the length of the elongated pick having a first end portion with a first end surface,

'a second end portion having means forming a tamping surface, and a passage extending in the body member from the first end surface toward the second end surface; a first removable hollow cap member telescopically received on the first end portion; and a second removable hollow cap member telescopically received on the second end portion of the body member to cover the tamping surface, said one-piece member being removably mounted in the body member with the scraper portion extending from said first end surface and the pick and base portion received in the passage so that the first removable hollow cap member covers the scraper portion and the body member forms a grip while using the scraper portion and so that the onepiece member may be removed from the body portion to provide a pick for use in cleaning a pipe bowl and stem.

2. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein the first cap member is provided with a clip means for attaching the tool in a pocket so that any ashes on the tamping surface fall into the second hollow cap member.

3. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein said means forming a tamping surface is a base of a cup member received on the second end portion to cover the second end surface.

4. A pipe tool according to claim 3, wherein the base of the cup member is spaced from the second end surface of the body member.

5. A pipe tool according to claim 3, wherein the cup member has a cylindrical portion, and wherein the second end portion has a cylindrical portion and a remaining portion, said cylindrical portion having a cross section smaller than the cross section of the remaining portion to form a shoulder therebetween, said cylinder portion being adjacent to said second end surface and receiving the cup member so that the interior of the second hollow cap member is spaced from the surface of the cup member.

6. A pipe tool according to claim 5, wherein the first end portion and the remaining portion of the second end portion each have a cross-sectional configuration of a four sided figure.

7. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein the second removable hollow cap member has an interior surface provided with means to prevent placement of the second cap member on the first end portion of the body member so that the second cap member is prevented from being inserted on the first end portion of the body member.

8. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein the first end portion and the second end portion of the body member along with their respective cap members are provided with coacting projections and recesses so that the cap members are held onto the body member with a snap locking action.

9. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein the passage adjacent the first end surface has a cross section corresponding to the cross section of the base portion of the scraper portion and a cross section spaced from said first end surface corresponding to the cross section of the pick so that the pick and base portions are snuggly engaged in the passage and the one-piece member is rigidly supported by the body member when the pick and base members are inserted in the passage.

10. A pipe tool according to claim 9, wherein said base portion has a substantially rectangular cross section converging to the cross section of the pick. 

1. A pipe tool comprising: a one-piece member having a scraper portion having a base portion provided on one end thereof and an integral elontated pick extending from the base portion; a body member having a length substantially equal to the length of the elongated pick having a first end portion with a first end surface, a second end portion having means forming a tamping surface, and a passage extending in the body member from the first end surface toward the second end surface; a first removable hollow cap member telescopically received on the first end portion; and a second removable hollow cap member telescopically received on the second end portion of the body member to cover the tamping surface, said one-piece member being removably mounted in the body member with the scraper portion extending from said first end surface and the pick and base portion received in the passage so that the first removable hollow cap member covers the scraper portion and the boDy member forms a grip while using the scraper portion and so that the onepiece member may be removed from the body portion to provide a pick for use in cleaning a pipe bowl and stem.
 2. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein the first cap member is provided with a clip means for attaching the tool in a pocket so that any ashes on the tamping surface fall into the second hollow cap member.
 3. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein said means forming a tamping surface is a base of a cup member received on the second end portion to cover the second end surface.
 4. A pipe tool according to claim 3, wherein the base of the cup member is spaced from the second end surface of the body member.
 5. A pipe tool according to claim 3, wherein the cup member has a cylindrical portion, and wherein the second end portion has a cylindrical portion and a remaining portion, said cylindrical portion having a cross section smaller than the cross section of the remaining portion to form a shoulder therebetween, said cylinder portion being adjacent to said second end surface and receiving the cup member so that the interior of the second hollow cap member is spaced from the surface of the cup member.
 6. A pipe tool according to claim 5, wherein the first end portion and the remaining portion of the second end portion each have a cross-sectional configuration of a four sided figure.
 7. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein the second removable hollow cap member has an interior surface provided with means to prevent placement of the second cap member on the first end portion of the body member so that the second cap member is prevented from being inserted on the first end portion of the body member.
 8. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein the first end portion and the second end portion of the body member along with their respective cap members are provided with coacting projections and recesses so that the cap members are held onto the body member with a snap locking action.
 9. A pipe tool according to claim 1, wherein the passage adjacent the first end surface has a cross section corresponding to the cross section of the base portion of the scraper portion and a cross section spaced from said first end surface corresponding to the cross section of the pick so that the pick and base portions are snuggly engaged in the passage and the one-piece member is rigidly supported by the body member when the pick and base members are inserted in the passage.
 10. A pipe tool according to claim 9, wherein said base portion has a substantially rectangular cross section converging to the cross section of the pick. 